Category Archives: snapshots

I had to pick him up before lunch on his 100th day of school for a doctor’s appointment, which led to a trip to the lab, after which we stopped for lunch at a place that used to be a lot speedier for dine-in service than it is now. As a result, he missed both gym and music class… but he was excited to eat lunch with me, anyway.

Right after I snapped this “Hey, Connor” pic, he gave me a grin and a thumbs-up that I failed to capture. So it goes.

The deer left me six dulce rojo paprika peppers by harvest time last fall. I’ve had them sitting in my kitchen, drying, for months now, and I finally decided that tonight was the night I’d put them through my spice grinder and turn them into a delicious spice.

I unintentionally made “pink paprika” by also including some seeds and ribs of the peppers — those inside bits can be hard to shake out of a dry pepper sometimes. Perhaps next time, I’ll slice them in half and remove the ribs and seeds before I dry them…?

At any rate, it definitely has a distinct smell and taste about it, and it’s just a little different from any store-bought paprika I’ve tried. I hadn’t been planning to buy any more seeds for this year’s garden, but I might have to try some different pepper varieties now.

Fowl & Fodder Downtown features a burger topped with ancho barbecue sauce and tomato jam (among other things). I haven’t tried it myself, but my two coworkers who have claim the tomato jam is too cloyingly sweet for the burger.

That got me to thinking… what better way to “put up” the remainder of my tomato surplus than jamming? Refrigerator jam, specifically — I’m not equipped for preserving (aka canning). Not yet, anyway.

I found a recipe for tomato jam from The Kitchn and decided to try it out this evening. I only made a couple minor adjustments by necessity: I used my beefsteak tomatoes plus a few SunSugar cherry tomatoes instead of the suggested Roma; I only had light brown sugar instead of dark brown; and I always keep a jar of chopped ginger in the fridge, so I used that instead of fresh grated.

Oh, good lord. I have found my new favorite condiment.

I can see myself putting this on every burger and sandwich I ever make from now on — until it’s gone, that is, or unless I’m already using my homemade roasted tomato barbecue sauce.